diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index f7713d22..ea5b652f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@
 - fix #324: document/recommend the v tag prefix
 - fix #501: add py.typed
 - fix #804: git - use fallback version instead of 0.0 when no version is found at all
+- fix #1139: use logging.lastResort instead of a own replica to avoid polluting logging._handlerList
 
 ## v8.3.1
 
diff --git a/src/setuptools_scm/_log.py b/src/setuptools_scm/_log.py
index 7de41231..ea17f375 100644
--- a/src/setuptools_scm/_log.py
+++ b/src/setuptools_scm/_log.py
@@ -39,9 +39,9 @@ def make_default_handler() -> logging.Handler:
 
         return RichHandler(console=console)
     except ImportError:
-        handler = AlwaysStdErrHandler()
-        handler.setFormatter(logging.Formatter("%(levelname)s %(name)s %(message)s"))
-        return handler
+        last_resort = logging.lastResort
+        assert last_resort is not None
+        return last_resort
 
 
 _default_handler = make_default_handler()